Was The Finsbury Park Mosque "Incident" Terrorism?

On Monday, just past midnight, a van drove into bystanders outside of London's Finsbury Park Mosque. According to the Muslim Council of Britain and eyewitnesses, many of those injured were worshippers leaving the mosque. And after two van attacks since the month of March alone, London is wondering whether the Finsbury Park "incident" is another terrorist attack.

The gentleman went straight down this road, people were just conversing, talking, just doing what we’re doing. And he just came into all of us. There was a lot of people. We got told to move straight away. I was shocked, shocked, shocked. There were bodies around me. Thank God I just moved to the side, I just jumped. Everyone is hurt. Everyone is actually hurt.

Some have already suggested they suspect the incident was terrorism, though again, authorities have not confirmed that. The Ramadhan Foundation's Mohammed Shafiq, for example, addressed the violence, and deemed that it deliberately targeted Muslims.

The British Muslim community requires all decent people to stand with us against this evil violence. Rampant Islamaphobia has been on the rise for a number of years and those on the far right have perpetuated hatred against Muslims. They should be called out for their hatred. The days ahead will be difficult, but with unity and tolerance we will prevail. We will not allow these far right extremists to divide our diverse communities.

Whether or not the incident was an intentional act of violence against the Muslim community has yet to be known. Regardless, it is more important than ever to support the Muslim community and to pay attention to how this pans out.